Being others-focused is central to becoming a healthy community. And it is the natural by-product of true, biblical community. Jean Vanier said,

“As people live in communion with the Father, they enter more and more into communion with one another; they open their hearts to the smallest and the weakest. Being in communion with the smallest and the weakest, their hearts are touched and the waters of compassion flow forth; in this way they enter more deeply into communion with the Father.”

The extension of increasing amounts of compassion to the poor, the stranger and the afflicted is evidence of the real presence of Christ in a group. It is not doctrinal—it is missional, others-minded and self-giving. To simply declare our beliefs falls short of the biblical expression of communal life in the Kingdom.

So how are your groups extending compassion? What is happening outside the circle? Prayer and service for others makes a community come to life in ways that study and teaching do not. 

Summary: Looking back over these four values, it is clear that they work together. A community or group that is energized and catalytic toward growth will be inclusive and compassionate, and will have an eye toward those who live or work close by, inviting them into the experience. It just makes sense. But it must be modeled, taught and resourced. And that is the work we have before us.

What are the driving values of your group or community gatherings? How are they taught and fostered? I’d love to hear from you on this.

Final post in this series.

Proximity cannot create community—but it can enhance the experience of those who are seeking to become a community. As groups form remember to pay attention to proximity. It will allow people greater levels of interaction and spontaneous connection that is difficult to create across distances.

Some churches, and Willow Creek is an example, have restructured the pastoral staff geographically. We have an Area Pastor (AP) assigned to each high school district within a 20-minute drive. As we form groups of all kinds, we strive to foster a connection process that honors place.

We have also learned, however that place is not everything (as Jesus modeled). So, while proximity is promoted it is not mandated. This was a problem during the neighborhood initiative, where place became the mantra for everything. It devalued groups on campus, serving groups, support groups, affinity groups of all kinds, and long-term relationships people developed in the workplace or when serving together.

People will be encouraged to evaluate the benefits of proximity as they seek group life. For many groups this will greatly enhance their community-building activity and their opportunities to impact neighborhoods and towns for Christ. But be wary of forced geographic groupings that do not make sense or serve the greater purpose of communal life. Biblically, it was clear that place was only one potential factor affecting group life, and often was not considered with respect to ministry teams, discipleship practices and certain gatherings.

Post 3 of 4 in this series.

One of the problems with the small group movement over the decades has been the “closed group” mindset that most groups default to. The Kingdom of God is ever-expanding and all kinds of people are “taking it by storm,” which means the unlikely, the unloved, the unwanted and the unworthy are flooding in. Why should group life not reflect this?

Jean Vanier has said, “A community which refuses to welcome—whether through fear, weariness, insecurity, a desire to cling to comfort, or just because it is fed up with visitors—is dying spiritually.” It is clear that we need to embrace openness.

One practice we embraced during the neighborhood initiative (and want to retain) was moving toward our friends and neighbors more naturally and intentionally. I experienced this over the last few years in my own community even before we started a neighborhood ministry in the formal sense. A woman next door was invited by my wife to her local woman’s small group. About 9 months later she trusted Christ and was baptized. A man and his wife in our neighborhood connected with a couples group. She came to faith, and a couple years later, while in my men’s group, he too became a Christ-follower.

These were natural relationships, forged over time, but supported and guided by small group experiences. Though we gather about every 4-6 weeks as a neighborhood community of about 30 people, the smaller group experiences allow places for new folks to consistently explore faith and discuss their lives. For a season we were adding people; lately we have not. That is the reality. Not every group and every gathering has new people all the time. But I must remain aware of the potential to drift from a “season” of being closed or not adding people to a “closed group mindset” which declares “Not welcome here.”

We must be vigilant to include the outsider – people Jesus focused most of his attention on. We all battle this. Let me know what you are seeing here, and how you are overcoming the “drift” of any community toward exclusivity.

Post 2 of 4 in this series.

As mentioned in my previous blog I have begun a new role with Willow Creek Community Church. As we work as a team toward a new future with group life, some key emerging values are becoming central to the process.

Value #1: Community Life is Catalytic: Community life is never sterile or static. Since the trinity is a community “on the move” as I like to say, group life should reflect this. Any community or group should seek to become a catalytic environment that fosters change and growth, movement toward something.

Group life at Willow (our prime expression of community life) seeks to promote redemptive relationships, disciple-making focus and evangelistic activity. Redemptive relationships form in and outside of group meetings. They are relationships that invite the activity of God. Disciple-making is an intentional discipline of group life, one that causes us to “spur one another on to love and good deeds” as the Bible describes it.

In a recent discussion with Dallas Willard, he emphasized that our call to making disciples needs to include the risks and challenges one will face when following Jesus. “Tell them up front that they might be fed to the lions” is not an exact quote, but the spirit of what he said.

And finally, it is catalytic in that evangelistic activity is the natural outcome of committed followers who are always graciously pointing people to ways, life and teachings of Jesus, inviting them to become disciples in His Kingdom.

Post 1 of 4 in this series.

In 1992 I joined a team of people at Willow Creek Community Church to help the church become “a church of small groups” as we moved from a one-size-fits-all model of groups toward group life as a way of life. After leading the Couples Ministry through this transition I began to focus on leader development and support.

In 1998, after seeing our vision become reality with about 19,000 people in groups, I shifted my work toward the Willow Creek Association. At that point about 20% of my efforts were channeled to the church but the bulk of my time was given to other churches. Writing, speaking and contributing to the worldwide small group movement became my focus. It has been a great 10-year run.

Over the last three years, after an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Neighborhood initiative at Willow Creek Community Church, the church decided to return group life to the core of Willow. There were some positive experiences from doing the Neighborhood initiative, but Willow decided that the model had limited success. (For an evaluation, see my previous blog postings on this).

After taking a fresh look at what really constitutes biblical community, and learning from strengths and failures of the various expressions of group life for the last 30 years, the church has plunged headlong into a fresh expression of group life that encompasses the strengths of the past while trying to avoid the mistakes. And I have been asked to help.

My primary role will be to design the leadership development and support structure for this new era. With a variety of group sizes, purposes and formats, leaders will require a broad spectrum of experiences and services to guide them along. And with leaders who have anywhere from zero to decades of group leadership experience, it is clear that the support we provide must be readily accessible, customized, decentralized and use both face time and technology.

I will keep you posted on how our strategy develops and will invite your input.